.jpg?maxwidth=3840){kind=icon}
Lot 2063THE PROPERTY OF AN AMERICAN GENTLEMAN
A RARE PAIR OF BROCADE RANK BADGES OF QILIN, BUZI
MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
Closed18 September 2015
Price Realised
USD 20,000
More Information
Specialist note
Insignia badges were first introduced shortly after the establishment of the Ming dynasty in 1368. The earliest laws governing insignia badges date from 1391. Those laws specified that imperial dukes were permitted to wear badges decorated with the mythical qilin. However, during the Ming period, the right to actually wear the appropriate badge also had to be granted by the emperor himself, as an honor. Rank in itself did not entitle even the highest noble to wear insignia badges.
Another example of this design survives in a private collection, and is published by Jackson & Hugus, Ladder to the Clouds, 1999, p. 111. That badge has an identical pattern, but is woven on a red ground, and has been re-used in Tibet for ritual purpose.
Another example of this design survives in a private collection, and is published by Jackson & Hugus, Ladder to the Clouds, 1999, p. 111. That badge has an identical pattern, but is woven on a red ground, and has been re-used in Tibet for ritual purpose.